“I got so much seeds I got no more left
Pull up on your block in that veggie van
Keep my broccoli local like I always did
Gimme a bucket of tools watch me go plant in the streets”
From “Sprout That Life” by DJ Cavem
The term “colonization” often to refers an invading group establishing political and military control over another group – in many cases an indigenous population. This process often starts as a military and political one, but soon manifests in social and economic disparities that endure long after initial control is established. In contrast, decolonization refers to establishing independence from a colonizing body, asserting military, political, social and economic independence.
According to Dr. Ietef Hotep Vita, otherwise known as DJ Cavem Moetavation, one impact of colonization in this country and throughout the world is the structural racism that leads to minority groups – particularly in inner cities – being deprived of access to healthy food. This issue contributes to poor overall health and an increased risk of a range of health problems including obesity, coronary heart disease and diabetes. And he has made it his life’s mission to help all people regain control over their food, and thus, their bodies, minds and spirits by what he describes as “Decolonizing The Kitchen.” Building upon Hip Hop’s history of social consciousness, Vita has founded a new genre of Hip Hop called “Eco-Hip Hop.” At the center of Eco-Hip Hop is the promotion of not only a healthy plant-based lifestyle, but also the ability of people, particularly in the inner cities, to be able to grow healthy organic food for sustenance to improve health.
To understand Vita’s path to his “Decolonize the Kitchen” mission, one must understand Vita’s first and enduring influence in the development of his art and activism – his mother, Ashara Ekundayo. It was his mother that first introduced him to the notion that even amidst structural racism, one can carve out a space to challenge racist ideals and develop a powerful platform for Black artists. “I grew up around artists and activists. My mother was both. She created a concept of introducing film and poetry to the community,” Vita told me. “The film festival she created was called the Pan African Arts Film Festival. That exposed me to Black film, Black filmmakers, actors and things that were missed by the media. When it came to providing people space to create, she had that platform for people. She definitely expected me to have knowledge of self and to definitely know what it means to be a Black man in America.”
Raised in an environment that was rich in artistic expression and activism, Vita began to recognize the similarity of messaging from conscious Hip Hop artists and civil rights leaders. “I was growing up to Native Tongues and Arrested Development. So, I grew up hearing artists that didn’t really call themselves ‘conscious’ but they were aware,” Vita explained. “And listening to great speeches by Malcolm X and Nelson Mandela and Marcus Garvey – those are the emcees that I know.”
Delving deeper into the lives of his civil rights heroes, he learned that many of them were vegetarian and vegan. In fact, civil rights activists such as Coretta Scott King and Dexter Scott King have stated that veganism is a natural extension of Martin Luther King’s message of non-violence against other beings. And at the age of 14, Vita visited a slaughterhouse that led him to stop eating meat as well. “I was exposed to a slaughterhouse and that was enough for me. I was already considering not eating meat for health reasons at a young age,” he said. “After that I was really cool on this after seeing the nastiness and the blood.”
And as he learned more about Hip Hop, Vita also noticed that many Hip Hop artists were promoting self-sustainability and growing one’s own food as part of a bigger picture of rebellion. “To be rebellious was a cool thing: fighting the power – fighting against the system. Hip Hop has been the same way like you see punk and ska – the anti-establishment and anarchist movement has really pumped eating off the land for a long time,” Vita described. “If the system is to watch TV and eat marshmallows then you don’t want to do that.”
Soon Vita discovered that just as cigarettes and liquor were often sold in abundance in the inner city, so was the unhealthy food that caused obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. And he made the link between the oppression facing inner city people, often people of color, and the lack of availability of healthy food. “Most urban communities are surrounded by subsidized processed foods that the city allows in their community. I saw a lot of people fighting to feed themselves,” he explained. “There’ll be a dialysis center and there’ll be a liquor store and a fast-food restaurant. And then right next to the fast-food restaurant or two blocks away there’ll be a little elementary school and a youth penitentiary.”
As a teenager, Vita explored and became involved in several areas of activism, including issues such as workers’ rights and climate change. And he was struck by the parallels between the cultural origins of Hip Hop and the culture of African people who lived with a strong connection to the earth and valued growing one’s own food for a self-sustaining lifestyle. As such, he recognized that reconnecting with their African heritage would help black people embrace healthy, plant-based living. “My whole goal was to promote how we can transform the community of Hip Hop,” he explained.
Part of his mission has been teaching people how to overcome barriers to growing organic food. For example, many people in urban environments do not have outdoor space that can be used for farming. “You have to show them success. Show them examples that are credible,” he explained. “For those who don’t have growing space outdoors, we let them know they can grow indoors. There are so many ways to organize. You can have a tower garden next to your window – it’s about the same size as a coat rack.”
One of the main ways that Vita spreads this message in schools is by capturing the attention of the students through his Hip Hop music. “There was a song that was pretty hip in the young people’s world, called ‘Hot Cheetos and Takis.’ It was a song that promoted eating processed food that burns out the stomach lining of young small children with the red dye and yellow flour. So, we decided to do a response,” he said.
And Vita’s efforts along with the work of his wife, raw chef and DJ Alkemia Earth, have not gone unnoticed. “We get people growing food, we can address climate change. Me and my wife, we’re taking it to the next level. My work turned up in Oprah Magazine, I’ve been invited to do more workshop-based performances,” Vita described. “We also have our culinary concerts; it’s a new way we’re facilitating our workshops. Creating curriculums for educators to play in class. We did a Ted Talk in Manhattan, we did one at the White House.”
With his Decolonize The Kitchen initiative, Vita is hoping to continue his tradition of Eco Hip-Hop and provide a different lens for people to understand the systems that are in place that perpetuate poor health. “I’m starting to think about the marketing that is attached to creating a food desert, the marketing that’s attached to the identity of perpetuating prolonged health issues, mentally, as well as physically …,” Vita described. “It’s really hard for a lot of us in our community to give up the mental control that a lot of times has put us in the worst situations creating hypertension, diabetes, obesity in our community… Decolonizing the kitchen is adding on to health and wellness and sustainability and indigeneity in our kitchens.”
And Vita is hoping he can create a world of true “OGs.” “My goal is to create young farmers. If I can create weed dealers, crack sellers, gun slingers with Hip Hop, I can create kale slingers and juice heads,” he said. And recognizing that some forms of Hip Hop encourage youth to want to become OG or Original Gangsters, “People want to be OG – you tell them OG is an organic gardener. You tell em real Gs got hoes,” he said.
“And you open up their mind.”
